Renton candidates and officials who lie about others have nothing to offer us

Photo by Chris Potter

After nearly four decades of living in Renton I know a lot about our amazing city and its residents.

One of the things I’ve learned is that every local candidate or official who bases their election campaign on lies will end up answering for it eventually.  Most won’t be elected, and if they are, they won’t be successful in office.  Serious lies from a candidate or an office holder are a “tell”– an indication that they have nothing meaningful to offer our residents.  And more often than not, a completely fabricated lie is a psychological projection of the liar’s own personal problems–  they are simply stating their own weaknesses or failures out loud, while pointing to someone else.

Renton residents are generally gracious and kind, which makes us reluctant to call out local candidates and public officials when they lie.  But if their lies are hurtful and begin to spread, and they target residents, candidates, or officials,  we need to stop them.  Some caution is needed, because we don’t want to accidentally spread a lie further by trying to stop it, a phenomenon known as the Streisand Effect.  But if someone is working hard to spread a heinous lie, and it begins to spread on its own, we need to act.

As the 2023 campaign season has gotten started, I’ve already seen outrageous lies posted on the internet and I’ve been informed about other lies that were shared in face to face meetings.  These lies are not simple misunderstandings of positions taken on political issues.  They are mean-spirited, unfounded, unfair, personal attacks on others.  If they get repeated to the point they begin to spread, I’m calling out the liars by name, with the evidence that they are lying.  And as a group we can determine whether we think the originator of the lie is psychologically projecting their own weaknesses and failings onto their target, as they most likely are.  Any candidate that spreads unfounded personal attacks is ineligible for my endorsement, and I hope they are ineligible for yours.   And flagrant liars may find they have to answer to more than just the voters.

Having worked as an engineer for 33 years, I have no patience for these types of falsehoods.  Making stuff up and presenting it as true can be catastrophic.  Treating something you may have once overheard somewhere as if it is a proven fact is also wrong.  Lies kill people every day.  A professional engineer could lose their license quickly for lying.

A lawyer running for office, or already in public office, could lose their license just as quickly as an engineer for lying.  Their Rules of Professional Conduct are taken so seriously that under  RCW 2.48.230 they have been adopted into state law.  Here are some of the misconduct rules listed in RPC 8.4.

It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to: ……  (c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation; ….(i) commit any act involving moral turpitude, or corruption, or any unjustified act of assault or other act that reflects disregard for the rule of law, whether the same be committed in the course of their conduct as a lawyer, or otherwise, and whether the same constitutes a felony or misdemeanor or not;

Lawyers are even given a special ethics warning in state law if they hold public office: [5] Lawyers holding public office assume legal responsibilities going beyond those of other citizens. A lawyer’s abuse of public office can suggest an inability to fulfill the professional role of lawyers. 

Other professionals are at risk of losing their livelihood too….teachers can end up without a job if employers or students lose their trust in them.  So can business owners, police officers, accountants, journalists, and anyone who must hold the public’s trust to be professionally successful…which is almost everyone.  I’ve enjoyed working on council with dozens of other council members in these and other professions, and while we may have had differences of opinions on issues, I could rely on honesty and candor from nearly all of them during my 28 years.

Unfortunately, full-time professional politicians are less accountable for their truthfulness. There is not a professional board of ethics ready to pull the license of a lying career politician.   They can make it look like lying is somehow okay, since some do it regularly with apparent impunity.  But local candidates and officials with day jobs can not copy these bad examples. They will have to answer for it.

In 2021 too many of these lies went unaddressed. This campaign season will be different. Please join me in challenging the lies and holding people accountable.  Renton faces too many serious issues right now to be distracted and sidelined with lies.

If you’re a candidate or current official running for reelection and someone is encouraging you to lie about your opponent, please tell them you don’t want their help.  Explain that  you would prefer to keep your dignity and maintain an opportunity to win a seat now or in the future.